Hockey: Goffstown 7 at Spaulding 4

Goffstown Wins Big After School

It’s good to be young and to be able to adjust to the lack of structure found in today’s average hockey week. After a week of night games for the Grizzlies, they started the following week of games with a game on the road, right after school. Or in this case they were dismissed early enough to play in Rochester, right after school.

Oh that first goal feels SOOO GOOD!!! (Photo by Jen Webber Photography)

Either way, the Grizzlies didn’t seem to mind too much as they skated to a 7-4 win against Spaulding on Monday afternoon, January 10th. Freshman, Dylan Ellbeg scored his first career goal on a rebound in the slot to get Goffstown on the scoreboard in the first period. Ellbeg from Jake Klardie and Colby Wright. Unfortunately, that joy didn’t last too long for the Grizzlies as Spaulding scored on the next shift with a similar goal at the other end of the ice. If I had a roster, I could tell you who scored for Spaulding. The goal was scored by #2 from #7 and #19. The opening period was pretty even. Goffstown held the edge in shots, 13-8. Both teams scored a goal and were called for a minor penalty.

The game opened up some in the second period, with each team scoring a pair of goals and a lot more shots fired toward the nets. Goffstown scored first when Brandon Bograd threw a puck to the right wing corner and Max Ouellette beat the defender to the spot to get the puck. Max fired the puck toward the net and it hit off a defender’s skate and came right to Luc Ouellette, on his forehand, with space. Luc made no mistake and ripped a shot that found the strings. Moments later, on the power play, Goffstown took a 3-1 lead with a goal from Jake Klardie. Klardie slid the puck into the net after consecutive passes from Xavier Bibaud, Nick DiMarzio, and Nick Caldwell.

The Grizzlies celebrate the first goal of the game, and the first of a career. (Photo by Jen Webber Photography)

Then again, the Grizzlies gave up a goal on the next shift. Goffstown was unable to handle a loose puck in the crease and Spaulding pushed it into the net. With less than five minutes to play in the middle period, Spaulding scored again, making the score, 3-3. That was how the period would end, with a tie score. Spaulding had the edge in shots though, 16-11 in the period.

The third period saw the Grizzlies open up the offense, scoring 4 times on 12 shots. Klardie started things with his second goal of the game. Andrew Skora and Xavier Bibaud batted the puck around at the left point for a few seconds before Bibaud spun and fired a bouncing puck toward the net. The puck hit the goalie’s pad and bounced right to Jake Klardie who tucked the rebound into the net. Grizzlies led, 4-3. A few minutes later Luc Ouellette made a nice pass to his little brother cutting through center ice. Max Ouellette controlled the puck around a defenseman and made a perfect pass to a wide open Brandon Bograd who skated in alone to score for the Grizzlies. Goffstown led, 5-3. Spaulding kept their attack going and scored two minutes later to cut the lead to one, 5-4. This time it was the Grizzlies who scored on the next shift. Luc Ouellette got his second of the afternoon. Max got the puck to Bograd and it was Bograd’s turn to make a sweet pass. He did. The puck slid over to Luc Ouellette who had both time and space. Luc skated in and ripped a wrist shot into the net to give Goffstown a two-goal lead once again. One minute later Luc secured a hat-trick for himself and a three-goal lead for the visitors. The MLB (Max-Luc-Brandon) Line swarmed around the net with shots and passes and all kinds of pressure on the defense. Then L. Ouellette slammed a shot that hit a defender in front of the net and ricocheted from one side of the goaltender to the other and into the net. Goffstown won the game, 7-4. The Grizzlies had a 12-11 shots advantage in the final period.

Goffstown earned the win on the road, to improve their league record to 4-2 on the season. Three of their wins have been on the road. They traveled to Nashua South-Pelham on Wednesday night, January 12.

The beginning of every article. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2017.

The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly.

Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.